News and Analysis

BUST: Why Do So Many Sports Stores Declare Bankruptcy? Street Fight

BUST: Why Do So Many Sports Stores Declare Bankruptcy?

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Among the MULO (multi-location) sporting goods stores that filed for Chapter 11 during the past decade are: Mountain Sports (50 sporting goods and apparel stores in seven states under Eastern Mountain Sports and Bob’s Stores brands) Olympic Sports (70 stores) Modell’s (153 stores) Sport Chalet (47 stores in California, Arizona, Nevada and Utah) Sports Authority […]

Amperity and the Power of First-Party Data Street Fight

Amperity and the Power of First-Party Data

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Amperity is a customer data platform that excels at helping brands unify and organize their first-party data using an average 30 different sources. Making sense of this data helps brand marketers understand when the same customer target shows up across disparate digital systems and lets them know the person is not three or four different […]

LOMA Platform Boosts Hyperlocal Marketing for Franchises Street Fight

LOMA Platform Boosts Hyperlocal Marketing for Franchises

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If LOMA knows anything, it’s how to support franchise businesses. Since launching last September with a $2 million pre-seed venture capital round, the data-driven platform is ready to take the next step in supporting local marketing efforts. (LOMA stands for “local marketing.”) In recent weeks, LOMA launched the first enterprise software platform for multi-location franchise […]

Commentary

Inform Your Multichannel Customer Experience Strategy

6 Considerations to Inform Your Multichannel Customer Experience Strategy

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In rapid succession, buzzwords like “customer experience,” “CX” and “customer journey” have moved from conceptual theories to boardroom imperatives. It’s now table stakes for major enterprises to have an ability to engage, convert, and nurture consumer relationships in a highly personal, secure way, and on a proliferating range of channels and conversational entry points, including Apple Messages for Business, WhatsApp Business, Facebook Messenger, and more.

Brands, You May Be Using Privacy-Unsafe Audiences

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With all of the regulation and laws that have gone on the books, along with ongoing consumer concerns and industry initiatives, buyers probably think that everything they buy at this juncture must be “safe,” in that it’s compliant, vetted, and fully legal. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.

Google Adds More Custom Relevance Signals to Local Results

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The ranking criteria that matters most for the current discussion is relevance. In offering product photos to users searching for products, Google is both declaring and emphasizing that this business has offerings relevant to the searcher’s stated need.

Latest Posts

Open-Source Data Is a Risky Gamble for Businesses

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While open-source data is free, it can cost a great deal of capital in the long run. For some companies, especially those with robust engineering teams, these costs might be acceptable. For others, however, it might be wiser to dedicate spend to an initial data purchase to avoid ROI headaches down the line.

Study: Multi-Location Businesses Underestimate Power of Local Digital Strategy

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Marketing technology has changed the way consumers find, choose, and return to businesses. While the majority of multi-location businesses have successfully implemented broad strategies to be discovered by consumers, research shows many are failing to fully leverage the latest tools for local discovery, engagement, and conversion.

AnyRoad Enables Brands to Close First-Party Data Gap

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AnyRoad’s new solution, which debuted last month, enables brands to collect first-party data and feedback from every guest that attends an experiential activation or event — not just the primary reservation holder.

Machine Learning Transforms Local TV into a Modern Advertising Channel

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Kalyan Lanka, VP of product management at Ampersand, argues that the same pairing of creative and targeting potential celebrated in CTV is hitting local TV. Here’s how marketers can take advantage of the opportunity.

Where Will the Latest Economic Slump Take Technology?

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Are we on the cusp of the next technological revolution that will come to define our globalized planet in the next few decades or more? From the printing press to the telephone and the electric light bulb, to the television and personal computer, each of these paradigm-shifting inventions took hold during economic depressions or deep recessions. 

Keen Brings SaaS to Marketing Mix Modeling

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Keen believes it can offer a version of MMM updated for the 2020s in the form of a SaaS-based platform (with some degree of managed services).

AI Can Bring the Fun Back to Advertising

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Long ago, the advertising industry lost its key ingredient — fun. With an overabundance of campaigns to optimize and oversee, marketers have no time to tap into the creativity or strategic thinking that persuaded many to pursue a career in the industry in the first place.

Survey: 59% of Retailers and Restaurant Chains Plan to Increase Investment in Location Tech

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The group found an industry on the precipice of major change. While most restaurant chains and retailers aren’t currently leveraging location data enterprise-wide, the survey found that executives are increasing their investments in location technology and expect to see the benefits of those efforts within months.

Thanx Loyalty 3.0

Thanx Expands Access to Enterprise-Grade Loyalty Programs

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Bespoke loyalty programs used to be reserved for the largest national brands. Restaurant chains like Pizza Hut, Chili’s, and Starbucks generated massive success as some of the first players in the industry to let customers earn and redeem rewards from their mobile phones. Now, the loyalty, CRM, and guest engagement platform Thanx is looking to bring those same high-end features to the broader business market.

virtual reality metaverse

Consumer Expectations Meet Marketing Reality in the Metaverse

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Meta shareholders have had it with the metaverse. When Mark Zuckerberg renewed his commitment to the project in an earnings call last week, Meta shares plunged 25%. For consumers, it’s a different story.